This layer is a component of Stratford Parcel Geometry Service.

© Town of Stratford, GBRC

This point layer was used in an educational StoryMap created by US Fish and Wildlife Service and Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program in collaboration with students at William and Mary. Layer created by Mary Lawrence Young, William & Mary collaborator to USFWS. Point layer showing general location Stratford, Connecticut at Latitude 41.18, Longitude -73.13. Layer created by Mary Lawrence Young, College of William and Mary in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Region 5 (R5), New England Field Office (NEFO).For more information contact Anne Condon, anne_condon@fws.gov

Geospatial data about Soils of Stratford County - ArcGIS Layer file. Export to CAD, GIS, PDF, CSV and access via API.

This feature service is available through CT ECO, a partnership between UConn CLEAR and CT DEEP. It is also available as a map service and a tiled map service. This dataset is a statewide service of municipal parcels (properties) including their geometry (polygon shape) and attributes (tabular information about each parcel). In order to preserve the attributes, each municipality is added individually to the service.

description: The Digital Geologic Map of the Stratford Hall Quadrangle, Maryland and Virginia is composed of GIS data layers, two ancillary GIS tables, a Windows Help File with ancillary map text, figures and tables, GIS data layer and table FGDC metadata and ArcMap 9.1 layer (.LYR) files. The data were completed as a component of the Geologic Resources Evaluation (GRE) program, a National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) funded program that is administered by the NPS Geologic Resources Division (GRD). All GIS and ancillary tables were produced as per the NPS GRE Geology-GIS Geodatabase Data Model v. 1.3.1. (available at: http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/inventory/geology/GeologyGISDataModel.htm). The GIS data is available as a 9.1 personal geodatabase (stha_geology.mdb), as coverage and table export (.E00) files, and as a shapefile (.SHP) and DBASEIV (.DBF) table files. The GIS data projection is NAD83, UTM Zone 18N. That data is within the area of interest of George Washington Birthplace National Monument.; abstract: The Digital Geologic Map of the Stratford Hall Quadrangle, Maryland and Virginia is composed of GIS data layers, two ancillary GIS tables, a Windows Help File with ancillary map text, figures and tables, GIS data layer and table FGDC metadata and ArcMap 9.1 layer (.LYR) files. The data were completed as a component of the Geologic Resources Evaluation (GRE) program, a National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) funded program that is administered by the NPS Geologic Resources Division (GRD). All GIS and ancillary tables were produced as per the NPS GRE Geology-GIS Geodatabase Data Model v. 1.3.1. (available at: http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/inventory/geology/GeologyGISDataModel.htm). The GIS data is available as a 9.1 personal geodatabase (stha_geology.mdb), as coverage and table export (.E00) files, and as a shapefile (.SHP) and DBASEIV (.DBF) table files. The GIS data projection is NAD83, UTM Zone 18N. That data is within the area of interest of George Washington Birthplace National Monument.

These data were automated to provide an accurate high-resolution historical shoreline of Long Island Sound, Bridgeport Harbor to Stratford Point, CT suitable as a geographic information system (GIS) data layer. These data are derived from shoreline maps that were produced by the NOAA National Ocean Service including its predecessor agencies which were based on an office interpretation of imagery and/or field survey. The NGS attribution scheme 'Coastal Cartographic Object Attribute Source Table (C-COAST)' was developed to conform the attribution of various sources of shoreline data into one attribution catalog. C-COAST is not a recognized standard, but was influenced by the International Hydrographic Organization's S-57 Object-Attribute standard so the data would be more accurately translated into S-57. This resource is a member of https://inport.nmfs.noaa.gov/inport/item/39808

See full Data Guide here. Connecticut Parcels for Protected Open Space Mapping is a polygon feature-based layer that includes basic parcel-level information for some towns in Connecticut. This 2009 parcel layer includes information provided by individual municipalities. These parcel data are incomplete and out of date. The accuracy, currency and completeness of the data reflect the content of the data at the time DEEP acquired the data from the individual municipalities. Attribute information is comprised of values such as town name and map lot block number. These data are not updated by CT DEEP and should only be used as a general reference. Critical decisions involving parcel-level information should be based on more recently acquired information from the respective municipalities. These parcels are not to be considered legal boundaries such as boundaries determined from certain classified survey maps or deed descriptions. Parcel boundaries shown in this layer are based on information from municipalities used for property tax purposes. Largely due to differences in horizontal accuracy among various data layers, do not expect these parcel boundaries to line up exactly with or be properly postioned relative to features shown on other layers available from CT DEEP such as scanned USGS topography quadrangle maps, roads, hydrography, town boundaries, and even orthophotograpy.

The data in the parcel layer was obtained from individual Connecticut municipalities. An effort was made to collect data once from each municipality. The data acquisition date for each set of municipally-supplied parcel data was not recorded and CT DEEP does not keep this information up-to-date. Consequently, these data are out-of-date, incomplete and do not reflect the current state of property ownership in these municipalities. These parcels are not to be considered legal boundaries such as boundaries determined from certain classified survey maps or deed descriptions. Parcel boundaries shown in this layer are based on information from municipalities used for property tax purposes. Parcel boundaries and attribute information have not been updated in this layer since the time the information was originally acquired by CT DEEP. For example, property boundaries are incorrect where subdivisions have occurred. Also, field attribute values are populated only if the information was supplied to CT DEEP. For example, parcels in some towns lack location (street name) information or possibly map lot block values. Therefore, field attributes are inconsistent, may include gaps, and do not represent complete sets of values among all towns. They should not be compared and analyzed across towns. It is emphasized that critical decisions involving parcel-level information be based on more recently obtained information from the respective municipalities. These data are only suitable for general reference purposes. Be cautious when using these data. Many Connecticut municipalities provide access to more up-to-date and more detailed property ownership information on the Internet. This dataset includes parcel information for the following towns: Andover, Ansonia, Ashford, Avon, Beacon Falls, Berlin, Bethany, Bethel, Bethlehem, Bloomfield, Bolton, Branford, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Brooklyn, Canaan, Canterbury, Canton, Chaplin, Cheshire, Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Colebrook, Columbia, Cornwall, Coventry, Cromwell, Danbury, Darien, Deep River, Derby, East Granby, East Haddam, East Hampton, East Hartford, East Lyme, East Windsor, Eastford, Ellington, Enfield, Essex, Farmington, Franklin, Glastonbury, Granby, Greenwich, Griswold, Groton, Guilford, Haddam, Hamden, Hartford, Hebron, Kent, Killingly, Killingworth, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Litchfield, Lyme, Madison, Manchester, Mansfield, Marlborough, Meriden, Middlebury, Middlefield, Middletown, Milford, Monroe, Montville, Morris, New Britain, New Canaan, New Hartford, New Haven, New London, New Milford, Newington, Newtown, Norfolk, North Branford, North Canaan, North Haven, North Stonington, Norwalk, Norwich, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Orange, Oxford, Plainfield, Plainville, Plymouth, Pomfret, Portland, Preston, Prospect, Putnam, Redding, Rocky Hill, Roxbury, Salem, Salisbury, Scotland, Seymour, Sharon, Shelton, Sherman, Simsbury, Somers, South Windsor, Southbury, Southington, Sprague, Stamford, Sterling, Stonington, Stratford, Suffield, Thomaston, Tolland, Torrington, Union, Vernon, Voluntown, Wallingford, Warren, Washington, Waterbury, Waterford, Watertown, West Hartford, West Haven, Westbrook, Westport, Wethersfield, Willington, Wilton, Winchester, Windsor, Windsor Locks, Wolcott, Woodbridge, Woodbury, and Woodstock. For additional information on the Protected Open Space Mapping project, contact the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Division of Land Acquisition and Management at 860-424-3016.

Environmental Justice 2024 Set is comprised of two layers: Environmental Justice Block Groups 2024 and Environmental Justice Distressed Municipality 2024. All Census and ACS data used in the creation of these data are the latest available from the Census at time of calculation. Environmental Justice Block Groups 2024 was created from Connecticut block group boundary data located in the Census Bureau's 2024 Block Group TIGER/Line Shapefiles. The poverty data used to determine which block groups qualified as EJ communities (see CT State statute 22a-20a) was based on the Census Bureau's 2023 ACS 5-year estimate. This poverty data was joined with the block group boundaries in ArcPro. Block groups in which the percent of the population below 200% of the federal poverty level was greater than or equal to 30.0 were selected and the resulting selection was exported as a new shapefile. The block groups were then clipped so that only those block groups outside of distressed municipalities were displayed. Maintenance – This layer will be updated annually and will coincide with the annual distressed municipalities update (around August/September). The latest ACS 5-year estimate data should be used to update this layer. Environmental Justice Distressed Municipalities 2024 was created from the Connecticut town boundary data located in the Census Bureau's 2024 TIGER/Line Shapefiles (County Subdivisions). From this shapefile, "select by attribute" was used to select the distressed municipalities by town name (note: the list of 2024 distressed municipalities was provided by the CT Department of Economic and Community Development). The selection was then exported a new shapefile. The “Union” tool was used to unite the new shapefile with tribal lands (American Indian Area Geography) boundary data from the 2024 TIGER/Line files. In the resulting layer, the tribal lands were deleted so only the distressed municipalities remained. Maintenance – This layer will be updated annually when the DECD produces its new list of distressed municipalities.Note: A distressed municipality, as designated by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, includes municipalities that no longer meet the threshold requirements but are still in an eligibility grace period. (See definition at CGS Sec. 32-9p(b).) Fitting into that grace period, nine towns continue to be eligible for distressed municipality benefits. Those are Bristol, East Haven, Groton, Killingly, New Haven, North Stonington, Preston, Stratford, Voluntown.

Additional photos collected via drone for the July 19, 2020, Avonbank, ON downburst. Ground survey conducted July 21, 2020. Mavic 2 Pro used to capture 15 drone photos. Does not include videos or drone mapping photos [where applicable].View event map here

This layer is a component of Stratford Parcel Geometry Service.

Environmental Justice 2023 Set is comprised of two layers: Environmental Justice Block Groups 2023 and Environmental Justice Distressed Municipality 2023. All Census and ACS data used in the creation of these data are the latest available from the Census at time of calculation. Environmental Justice Block Groups 2023 was created from Connecticut block group boundary data located in the Census Bureau's 2022 Block Group TIGER/Line Shapefiles. The poverty data used to determine which block groups qualified as EJ communities (see CT State statute 22a-20a) was based on the Census Bureau's 2021 ACS 5-year estimate. This poverty data was joined with the block group boundaries in ArcPro. Block groups in which the percent of the population below 200% of the federal poverty level was greater than or equal to 30.0 were selected and the resulting selection was exported as a new shapefile. The block groups were then clipped so that only those block groups outside of distressed municipalities were displayed. Maintenance – This layer will be updated annually and will coincide with the annual distressed municipalities update (around August/September). The latest ACS 5-year estimate data should be used to update this layer. Environmental Justice Distressed Municipalities 2023 was created from the Connecticut town boundary data located in the Census Bureau's 2022 TIGER/Line Shapefiles (County Subdivisions). From this shapefile, "select by attribute" was used to select the distressed municipalities by town name (note: the list of 2023 distressed municipalities was provided by the CT Department of Economic and Community Development). The selection was then exported a new shapefile. The “Union” tool was used to unite the new shapefile with tribal lands (American Indian Area Geography) boundary data from the 2020 TIGER/Line files. In the resulting layer, the tribal lands were deleted so only the distressed municipalities remained. Maintenance – This layer will be updated annually when the DECD produces its new list of distressed municipalities (around August/September).Note: A distressed municipality, as designated by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, includes municipalities that no longer meet the threshold requirements but are still in a 5-year grace period. (See definition at CGS Sec. 32-9p(b).) Fitting into that grace period, ten towns continue to be eligible for distressed municipality benefits because they dropped off the list within the last five years. Those are Bristol, Enfield, Groton, Killingly, Naugatuck, New Haven, North Stonington, Plainfield, Preston, and Stratford.

Environmental Justice Block Groups 2022 was created from Connecticut block group boundary data located in the Census Bureau's 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles. The poverty data used to determine which block groups qualified as EJ communities (see CT State statute 22a-20a) was based on the Census Bureau's 2020 ACS 5-year estimate. This poverty data was joined with the block group boundaries in ArcPro. Block groups in which the percent of the population below 200% of the federal poverty level was greater than or equal to 30.0 were selected and the resulting selection was exported as a new shapefile. The block groups were then clipped so that only those block groups outside of distressed municipalities were displayed. Maintenance – This layer will be updated annually and will coincide with the annual distressed municipalities update (around August/September). The latest ACS 5-year estimate data should be used to update this layer. Environmental Justice Distressed Municipalities 2020 was created from Connecticut town boundary data located in the Census Bureau's 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles (County Subdivisions).

From this shapefile, "select by attribute" was used to select the distressed municipalities by town name (note: the list of 2022 distressed municipalities was provided by the CT Department of Economic and Community Development). The selection was then exported a new shapefile. The “Union” tool was used to unite the new shapefile with tribal lands (American Indian Area Geography) boundary data from the 2020 TIGER/Line files. In the resulting layer, the tribal lands were deleted so only the distressed municipalities remained. Maintenance – This layer will be updated annually when the DECD produces its new list of distressed municipalities (around August/September).

Note: A distressed municipality, as designated by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, includes municipalities that no longer meet the threshold requirements but are still in a 5-year grace period. (See definition at CGS Sec. 32-9p(b).) Fitting into that grace period, eight towns continue to be eligible for distressed municipality benefits because they dropped off the list within the last five years. Those are Enfield, Killingly, Naugatuck, Plymouth, New Haven, Preston, Stratford, and Voluntown.

CT911_roads contains data from licensed Tele Atlas Dynamap Transportation version 9.3 (has a DYNAMAP ID) and data created by the State of Connecticut Department of Public Safety (does not have a DYNAMAP ID).

This layer is a component of Stratford Parcel Geometry Service.

This dataset is a compilation of the parcels from the 6 member municipalities in the MetroCOG region. Land use values were generated from the CAMA data that was joined to parcel dataset. Each municipality parcels were also updated at different times. Bridgeport - May 2019, Easton - Sept 2020, Fairfield -July 2020, Monroe - Sept 2020, Stratford - Feb 2020, Trumbull - July 2020.

Coastal Area & Boundary Polygon:

The Coastal Area layer is a 1:24,000-scale, polygon feature-based layer that includes the land and waters that lie within the Coastal Area as defined by Connecticut General Statute (C.G.S.) 22a-94(a). Activities and actions conducted within the coastal area by Federal and State Agencies (i.e., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE), DEP regulatory programs, and state plans and actions) must be consistent with all of the applicable standards and criteria contained in the Connecticut Coastal Management Act (C.G.S. 22a-90 to 22a-113). A subset of the Coastal Area, the Coastal Boundary, represents an area within which activities regulated or conducted by coastal municipalities must be consistent with the Coastal Management Act. As defined in this section of the statutes, the Coastal Area includes the land and water within the area delineated by the following: the westerly, southerly and easterly limits of the state's jurisdiction in Long Island Sound; the towns of Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Norwalk, Westport, Fairfield, Bridgeport, Stratford, Shelton, Milford, Orange, West Haven, New Haven, Hamden, North Haven, East Haven, Branford, Guilford, Madison, Clinton, Westbrook, Deep River, Chester, Essex, Old Saybrook, Lyme, Old Lyme, East Lyme, Waterford, New London, Montville, Norwich, Preston, Ledyard, Groton and Stonington. This layer includes a single polygon feature defined by the boundaries described above. Attribute information is comprised of an Av_Legend to denote the coastal area. Data is compiled at 1:24,000 scale. This data is not updated.

The Coastal Boundary layer is a 1:24,000-scale, polygon feature-based layer of the legal mylar-based maps adopted by the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) (i.e., maps were adopted on a town by town basis) showing the extent of lands and coastal waters as defined by Connecticut General Statute (C.G.S.) 22a-93(5)) within Connecticut's coastal area (defined by C.G.S. 22a-94(c)). The coastal boundary is a hybrid of the original 1:24,000 version maps prepared by DEP consistent with C.G.S. 22a-94(d) (Coastal Area) and the revised boundary mapping undertaken by twenty-two coastal towns prepared pursuant to C.G.S. 22a-94(f). This layer therefore does not replace the legal maps and may not be used for legal determinations. The Coastal Boundary layer includes a single polygon feature that represents the coastal boundary. No other features are included in this layer. Data is compiled at 1:24,000 scale. Attribute information is comprised of an Av_Legend attribute and a CoastB_Flg attribute to denote the coastal boundary. Other attributes include automatically calculated Shape_Length and Shape_Area fields. This data is not updated. Any regulated activity conducted within the coastal boundary by a municipal agency (i.e., plans of development, zoning regulations, municipal coastal programs and coastal site plan review (i.e., site plans submitted to zoning commission, subdivision or resubdivision plans submitted to planning commission, application for special permit or exception to the zoning or planning commissions or zoning board of appeals, variance submitted to zoning board of appeals and a referral of a municipal project)) must be conducted in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Connecticut Coastal Management Act (CMA; C.G.S. 22a-90 to 22a-113). As the Coastal Boundary is a hybrid of the Coastal Area, all state and federal agency activities must be consistent with the requirements of the CMA. As defined in C.G.S. 22a-94(b) the coastal boundary is a "continuous line delineated on the landward side by the interior contour elevation of the one hundred year frequency coastal flood zone, as defined and determined by the National Flood Insurance Act, as amended (USC 42 Section 4101, P.L. 93-234), or a one thousand foot linear setback measured from the mean high water mark in coastal waters, or a one thousand foot linear setback measured from the inland boundary of tidal wetlands mapped under section 22a-20, whichever is farthest inland; and shall be delineated on the seaward side by the seaward extent of the jurisdiction of the state." The original boundary maps were created in 1979 on stable mylar overlay using the 1:24,000-scale US Geological Survey topographic quadrangle maps (mylar film format). The source for tidal wetland maps were the legal 1:24,000 maps (mylar format) adopted by the Commissioner of DEP and transformed to 1:24,000 mylar-scale maps by the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) using an accurate pantograph. OPM similarly converted FEMA's flood insurance maps (various scales) to a 1:24,000 mylar overlay. The inland extent of coastal waters was plotted on 1:24,000 USGS topographic maps following the procedures and sources described in The Boundary Between Saltwater and Freshwater in Connecticut, December 1978 prepared by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection, Coastal Area Management Program. The following twenty-two towns have adopted municipal coastal boundaries: Chester, Clinton, Darien, Deep River, East Haven, Essex, Fairfield, Greenwich, Groton, Guilford, Hamden, Ledyard, Madison, Milford, New Haven, New London, North Haven, Norwalk, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Stamford and Waterford. The coastal boundary maps for these towns may be at different scales than the original DEP draft maps and may contain minor adjustments to the boundary as permitted in C.G.S. 22a-94(f).

This layer was used in an educational StoryMap created by US Fish and Wildlife Service and Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) Program in collaboration with students at William and Mary. Layer created by Mary Lawrence Young, William & Mary collaborator to USFWS. The layer shows the 34-acre restoration area within the Great Meadows Marsh Wildlife Refuge in Stratford, CT. This layer was manually traced in ArcGIS Pro from aerial imagery courtesy of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. For more information contact Anne Condon, anne_condon@fws.gov

This map was used in an educational StoryMap created by US Fish and Wildlife Service and Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program in collaboration with students at William and Mary. Layer created by Mary Lawrence Young, William & Mary collaborator to USFWS. The map shows the only remaining location that the wildflower Marsh Pink (Sabatia stellaris) grows within the state of Connecticut. The current Marsh Pink populations are undergoing restoration work as part of the larger Great Meadows Marsh Refuge Restoration project. The point data from this feature layer was manually generated in ArcGIS Pro using longitude and latitude values of the towns provided by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The data is meant to be used in comparison to historic Marsh Pink growing locations within Connecticut to display how depleted the population has become.Listed Connecticut Townships: Stratford (41.18, -73.13)For more information contact Anne Condon, anne_condon@fws.gov

This dataset displays the points of average fall diversity in the Stratford Shoal region of Long Island Sound. Shapefile is based on analysis of sidescan sonar backscatter images (Battista, 2013).View Dataset on the Gateway

Eelgrass Beds 93-95 Set:

Eelgrass Sample Points is a 1:24,000-scale, point feature-based layer that depicts the locations where eelgrass (Zostera marina) was either observed or where a location would be potentially favorable for future eelgrass growth. Sample points were taken along Connecticut's coast in Long Island Sound, and in major bays, harbors and rivers along the shoreline. The point features in this layer were compiled from field research using global positioning system (GPS) equipment. Feature locations were not always exact due to equipment failure or lack of satellite reception. In those cases, points were estimated from field notes. Some point locations were corrected based on field notes or hydrography and bathymetry conditions at the sample point location. The number of field points that were altered were as follows: In 1993, 32 of 290 points (11%); in 1994, 93 of 454 points (20%); in 1995, 37 of 105 points (35%). Data compilation occurred on 17 days between 7/21/1993 and 11/16/1995; exact dates of each source's data collection are noted in the attribute table. A total of 849 point locations were surveyed. The westernmost point is Frash Pond in Stratford, Connecticut and the easternmost point is the Pawcatuck River on the Connecticut/Rhode Island Border. Eelgrass was found at 484 locations and was described as either high, medium, or low density, or simply as present or absent. Eelgrass was absent at 365 locations. Publication of the datalayer was in 1997. This layer is not updated. This layer does not represent current conditions.

Observed Eelgrass Beds is a 1:24,000 scale, polygon feature-based layer that depicts the locations of observed eelgrass beds in Long Island Sound, in major rivers, and within bays, harbors and other waterbodies along Connecticut's coast. The layer is based on information from the Eelgrass Sample Points layer. It represents conditions at a particular point in time (1993 to 1995). During the 1993-95 field seasons a team of researchers from the University of Connecticut Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology led by Charles Yarish, equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS), SCUBA, and a 20' boat surveyed over 800 potential eelgrass locations. Their GPS coordinates and field notes were used to create a point coverage entitled Eelgrass Sample Points, which was plotted and checked on a 1:24000 scale base map of the Connecticut shore. These point locations, observations, and the nearshore bathymetry were then used to delineate areas representing both observed and potential eelgrass beds. Eelgrass beds were initially digitized at 1:24,000 scale, but have been edited and revised on screen at higher resolution. Keeping in mind the temporal and spatial variability of eelgrass, beds may vary in size, shape, and density from year to year. Feature locations may not always be exact due to equipment failure or lack of satellite reception. In those cases, points were estimated from field notes. It should be noted that the Observed Eelgrass Beds layer is not a complete dataset of all observed eelgrass sites in Connecticut and/or Long Island Sound. This layer was published in 1997 and is not updated. It does not represent current conditions. There are 101 polygon features representing observed eelgrass beds in this layer. Geographic locations are as follows: westernmost areas: Clinton Harbor; easternmost areas: Little Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island waters. Observed beds range in size from .003 acre (131 sq. ft.) to 49 acres (2,136,608 sq. ft.). The total area of observed beds is 632.6 acres.

Potential Eelgrass Beds is a 1:24,000 scale, polygon feature-based layer that depicts the locations of potential eelgrass beds in Long Island Sound, in major rivers, and within bays, harbors and other waterbodies along Connecticut's coast. The layer is based on information from the Observed Eelgrass Beds and Eelgrass Sample Points layers. It represents conditions at a particular point in time (1993 to 1995). During the 1993-95 field seasons a team of researchers from the University of Connecticut Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology led by Charles Yarish, equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS), SCUBA, and a 20' boat surveyed over 800 potential eelgrass locations. Their GPS coordinates and field notes were used to create a point coverage entitled Eelgrass Sample Points, which was plotted and checked on a 1:24000 scale base map of the Connecticut shore. These point locations, observations, and the nearshore bathymetry were then used to delineate areas representing both observed and potential eelgrass beds. Eelgrass beds were initially digitized at 1:24,000 scale, but have been edited and revised on screen at higher resolution. Potential beds, where not individually delineated, were created by buffering observed beds a distance of 33 feet (10 meters). These buffered polygons were intersected with buffered (distance of 5 ft.) shoreline arcs to keep potential polygons a minimum distance off the shoreline. These potential beds are considered to be areas where eelgrass is likely to spread to under ideal conditions, where eelgrass may exist in small isolated patches, where eelgrass may exhibit high temporal variability, or perhaps where restoration projects could be undertaken. Feature locations may not always be exact due to equipment failure or lack of satellite reception. In those cases, points were estimated from field notes. It should be noted that the Potential Eelgrass Beds layer is not a complete dataset of all potential eelgrass sites in Connecticut and/or Long Island Sound. This layer was published in 1997 and is not updated. It does not represent current conditions. There are 67 polygon features representing potential eelgrass beds in this layer. Geographic locations are as follows: westernmost areas: Clinton Harbor; easternmost areas: Little Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island waters. Potential beds range in size from .179 acre (318 sq. ft.) to 471 acres (20,551,582 sq. ft.). Potential beds contain 0 to 9 observed beds, and from 0 to 88.1% area covered by observed beds. The total area of potential beds is 2,196 acres.

This shapefile, in conjunction with layer file May2013_Richness.lyr, shows this distribution of speices richness in the Stratford Shoal region of Long Island Sound. Shapefile is based on analysis of 630 images (May 2013, USGS Seaboss: 581 images; May 2013, NURTEC K2 ROV: 49 images).View Dataset on the Gateway